Floodplain Buyout Case Studies

The Natural Hazards and Opportunity: Community Resilience and Habitat Connectivity project aims to help communities understand and fully leverage the potential ecological and social value of properties acquired under federal hazard mitigation and other programs that fund voluntary acquisitions of flood prone properties. With guidance from the project’s Advisory Committee, the Environmental Law Institute and the University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment have identified a number of representative communities across four states and in various regions, where the project will work on the local level to develop comprehensive maps of acquired properties and examine the habitat and flood mitigation benefits of acquired properties.


 

Case Studies

2013 Austin Floodplain, FEMA

Austin, MN

Population: 24,720

No. Homes Acquired: 240

Current Use: parks, trails, restored habitat

East Grand Forks flood, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2001

East Grand Forks, MN

Population: 8,601

No. Homes Acquired:507

Current Use: parks, trails, athletic fields, greenways, etc.

Lowland Prairie Project Parcel, Montevideo MN

Montevideo, MN

Population: 5,383

No. Homes Acquired: 131

Current Use: restored habitat, detention ponds, community garden

Moorhead Floodplain, FEMA, 2010

Moorhead, MN

Population: 38,065

No. Homes Acquired: 264

Current Use: habitat restoration & connectivity, recreation

Clyde NC Park Area

Clyde, NC

Population: 1,223

No. Homes Acquired: 45

Current Use: leased to community members, gardens

Kinston Buyout Area

Kinston, NC

Population: 22,000

No. Homes Acquired: 1,000

Current Use: vacant property, dog park, skeet range, etc.

Rocky Mount Park

Rocky Mount, NC

Population: 60,000

No. Homes Acquired: 446

Current Use: trails, community forest, athletic facilities, dog park, barbeque park

Pequannock Buyout Area

Pequannock, NJ

Population: 15,000

No. Homes Acquired: 87

Current Use: open space, (proposed use: riverwalk and recreational amenities)

Sayreville Marshland

Sayreville, NJ

Population: 42,704

No. Homes Acquired: 180

Current Use: unmanaged vacant property

Wayne, NJ Buyout Area

Wayne, NJ

Population: 55,000

No. Homes Acquired: 133 total in Township

Current Use: vacant property

Jefferson County Buyout Area

Jefferson County, WI

Population: 83,686

No. Homes Acquired: 107 since 1995

Current Use: vacant property

Kenosha County Buyout Area

Kenosha County, WI

Population: 166,426

No. Homes Acquired: 103

Current Use: vacant property

 

Trenton Island Bridge, Pierce County

Pierce County, WI

Population: 41,019

No. Homes Acquired: 62

Current Use: forested floodplain, little to no management

 

 

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